Fruit Pizza

I love this recipe. I had posted this before as "Berry Happy You're a Citizen!" fruit pizza, which I had made with red and blue berries (as shown above) to celebrate a dear friend of mine becoming a dual American/Canadian citizen. At that party, people had thought I had BOUGHT the tart, it looked that good. 

Well, I mean, really. It does look pretty daggum good!!! This one here is a rainbow pattern, I don't know which I like more! The baby tartlets were adorable but, the big pizza is always a hit. I made it in a tart pan so the edges were lovely for the citizenship party but, it still is an attention getter with all that fresh fruit and lovely cream...

I mean, wow. Can't you see why? I vote you make this today. With all the fresh spring berries, it'd be perfect.


Or soon. Just make it VERY soon :)


Enjoy!

Fresh Fruit Pizza

-1 package sugar cookie dough

Grease pizza pan (or, as I used, fluted tart pan), press dough to edges and smooth. Bake at 350 for 7 minutes.

Mix:

-1 8oz cream cheese

-1 8oz cool whip

Once cookie crust is cool...pour and spread onto crust.

Decorate with fruit, coat in glaze.

Glaze:

-1/4 cup water

-1/2 cup sugar

-2 teaspoons lemon juice

-1 teaspoon cornstarch

-1/2 cup orange juice

-Dash of salt

Use a spoon to pour over tart and then a detail brush to smear and coat all the fruit. 

Breakfast Pie

Lingering love from "pie day" has inspired me to post what is my all time favorite breakfast dish- breakfast pie.


This recipe is intensive. My mom and dad make it for us kids every year for Christmas morning, making the pie the day before, and every year on Christmas eve as they prepare the pie, there is some grumbling about how much effort goes into one pie dish.


However, once the morning comes and everyone takes a bite of said pie, everyone wonders why we don't make it more then once a year.

It is SO GOOD. I cannot begin to tell you how worth it this pie is to make. It's cheesy, potato, meats, eggs, all in a flaky shell with roasted garlic and carmelized onions.


...I mean... really.


Doesn't that just SOUND good? 

My Mom elegantly adding an egg layer. She is NOT clumsy in the kitchen and makes everything look beautiful...

I could keep repeating myself on the glories of this pie but, you should probably stop reading and start making it yourself. As I said, it takes some time. And you're going to want to have a slice as soon as possible :)


Breakfast Pie
- 17 1/4 oz pkg (2 sheets) frozen, pre-rolled sheets puff pastry (thawed)


-POTATOES
-1/4 c butter
-3 c (6 med) sliced red potatoes
-1 c (1 med) sliced onion, separated into rings
-1/4 tsp salt
-1/4 tsp pepper


-OMELETS (make 2)
-2 tbsp butter
-6 eggs
-1 tbls parsley
-1/8 tsp salt
-1/8 tsp pepper
-2 tbsp water


-FILLING
-1/2 lb thinly sliced, cooked, ham (deli works)
-2 c (8oz) shredded cheddar cheese


*NEXT DAY* Brush with-
-1 egg slightly beaten
-1 tbsp water


Layer in the following order:
1 omelet, 1/4 lb ham, 1/2 of the fried potatoes, 1 cup shredded cheese, remaining potatoes, remaining ham, 2nd omelet. Top with remaining puff pastry. Cover and refrigerate overnight. Next morning, heat over to 375. Take pie out, allow to adjust to room temp for 30 mins prior to baking, brushing with egg/water. Bake for 30-35 mins or until golden and cooked through. Let stand for 5 mins before serving.


*If you are too anxious and make it that morning, you may simply put it in the oven without allowing it to set up over night or adjust back to room temperature. However, allowing the flavors to set up overnight is an even more amazing pie so, if you CAN be patient, it's well worth the wait!*

Pi Day! Chocolate Pie

Happy Pi Day, all!

A perfect day, really. Geekiness, word play, and dessert.

Who doesn't love all of the above?

For pi day, I present to you all my recipe for chocolate pie. It's FANCY! For someone like me, this was an afternoon event. I tend to botch up my kitchen/myself when I make a recipe as involved as this one but, it actually turned out extremely well! And I didn't cut any corners!! Usually, I am all about taking a simple short cut.

This particular pie event, however, I felt like going all out. I even made my own whip! AND, get ready... because this was really awesome and exciting...

I made those chocolate curls! Those really pretty ones all over the really pretty pie! I made those! On my own!! I used this tutorial (God Bless Pioneer Woman) but, I did make those curls!

Don't even talk to me about how they are kinda falling apart. They are AWESOME! And don't mention that some of them are flaking. FINE! Do better then! Punk.

Also, please ignore my crust sagging a bit. I don't know how I did that... Oh and the sunbeam that made my shot too exposed... 


Remember how this blog is called "Clutzy Cooking"? No one ever said this was a place for beautiful food and photos! We're trying our best over here.

Anyway! Here you go. Make and enjoy! Despite it's clumsy appearance, this is delicious to the max :)

Hope your pi day was exceptional and filled with pie goodness.

Chocolate Pie Ingredients:

-Pie Crust (Your fav crust already baked into pie pan or a Graham/Oreo crust all pressed and ready to go)

-Chocolate Filling:

-3/4 cup sugar

-3 tablespoons cornstarch

-1/3 cup cocoa powder

-1/8 teaspoon salt

-2 1/2 cups milk

-1/2 cup heavy whipping cream

-4 large egg yolks

-4 ounces semisweet chocolate finely chopped

-1 1/2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract

-1 tablespoon unsalted butter, room temperature (cut into small pieces)

Topping:

-1 cup heavy whipping cream

-2 tablespoons granulated white sugar

Garnish:

-Grated or shaved chocolate

Chocolate Filling: In a large heatproof bowl whisk together the sugar, cornstarch, cocoa powder, and salt. Then whisk in 1/2 cup (120 ml) milk until you have a thick paste. Add the egg yolks, one at a time, whisking to blend into the cocoa paste mixture. Set aside while you heat the milk and cream. 


Have a fine medium-sized strainer and bowl ready near the stove as you will need to strain the filling after it is cooked.

First, rinse a medium-sized heavy saucepan with cold water and then shake out the excess water. (This prevents the milk from scorching.) Then pour in the remaining 2 cups (480 ml) milk and the cream. Bring this mixture just to a boil and then remove from heat. (The milk will foam up to the top of pan when done, so watch carefully.) Gradually pour the milk into the egg mixture, whisking constantly, until the mixture is smooth. Transfer the filling to a clean large, heavy bottomed saucepan and place over medium-low heat. Cook, stirring constantly, until the mixture thickens to the consistency of mayonnaise (about 3 - 5 minutes). Remove from heat and pour through the strainer to remove any lumps that may have formed during cooking.

Add the finely chopped chocolate, vanilla extract, and butter, stirring gently with a rubber spatula until the mixture is smooth. Cover with plastic wrap, to prevent a skin from forming, and let cool to room temperature. Pour into the graham cracker crust, cover, and refrigerate overnight.

Topping: In a large bowl, beat the whipping cream until soft peaks form. Add the sugar and beat until stiff peaks form. Either pipe or place mounds of whipping cream on top of the filling. Garnish with grated chocolate if you like. Refrigerate, if not serving immediately. SO MUCH BETTER THEN COOL WHIP! But, I could've (as I said) done without making my own chocolate curls. Thank GOODNESS for that tutorial, ha.

Chocolate Peanut Butter Mousse Pie

I recently became extremely interested in making pies. . I was going to work on "fall" type pies but, I am traveling home and then on business so, making pie seemed a poor decision when I wouldn't be able to eat it in time or transport it.

Plus, my cousin was making all kinds of yummy pies for the holiday and there is no way I could top her treats.

I made this pie in the summer and had simply been holding onto the recipe and pics. I am not sure why I haven't posted it before this point because- this recipe is astoundingly delicious. Probably because it's a lot more intensive then my usual recipe. It is from the cookbook "Bubby's Homemade Pies" which has an endless amount of home-made pie recipes and crust recipes that are guaranteed to make your mouth water.

This pie in particular is creamy, delicious, and extremely rich. It's a beautiful melding of chocolate and peanut butter- arguably the best flavor combination there is- if you have the time and energy to whip (literally) this sweet dessert up. You won't be disappointed :)

Enjoy!

Bubby's Homemade Peanut Butter Chocolate Pie

Ingredients:

-1 Oreo Pie Crust (The cookbook uses Graham but, I wanted this chocolate-tastic)

Peanut Butter Mousse:

-1 cup confectioners' sugar

-1 cup creamy peanut butter

-3 oz cream cheese (softened)

-1 teaspoon vanilla extract

-1 1/2 cups heavy cream

Ganache:

-6 oz semi sweet chocolate (I used chips but, 1 bar would work out smashingly)

-1/4 cup heavy cream

To make the mousse: Beat together the sugar, peanut butter, cream cheese, and vanilla until they are fluffy. In a separate bowl whip together the cream until it holds good, stiff, peaks.. Place a few spoonfuls of whipped cream in a peanut butter mixture and mix on medium to combine it all evenly. Cover and refrigerate.

To make the ganache: Melt the chocolate until smooth. Add the cream, stirring continuously, until completely combined. Spread a thick layer of ganache in the pie shell, covering the bottom and the sides of the crust as evenly as possible using the offset spatula, spreading from the center outward and up the sides. Layer the rest on the bottom of the pie crust.

Fill pie crust with remaining mousse- Refrigerate at least 2 hours before serving.

Dark Forces Chocolate Nut Torte

"You cannot resist the Dark Side". Nor can you resist this rich chocolate, nut, torte. This tart is flakey crust, caramel, and melty chocolate. Try and resist, I dare you. Yep. YEP!

And, oh yeah. You're seeing right. That, my friends, is Darth Vader.

Kind of. It's pastry cut with a William Sonoma pancake mold into the shape of Vader which was the all time perfect topping for my "Dark Forces" Chocolate Nut Torte.

Someday when I have more money then I have rent, I will get a really nice camera and take respectable photos and have a respectable blog. But in the meantime, that is a zoom out of the tart itself. The size of a large pizza and piles of dessert deliciousiocity.

Wish that was a real word so I could spell it correctly. ANYWAY!

This tart is really one my mom made time and time again when I was young, but never for us kids. This dessert is cemented in my mind as a "fancy" treat. She would prep this dessert for all the dinner parties that she and my dad would hold at our house for business partners, clients, and the like. Or just friends but, all their glamourous friends, the ones who needed meals comprised of several courses and used words like "poached" and "wellington".

Fancy times call for a fancy dessert. And while this may APPEAR fancy, it's really a cinch. And is best eaten cold, the day after, in my opinion. But this could also just be because I was raised on the left overs from said fancy dinner parties.

I don't know if it's me being a girl but, when my mom made this and her entire spread as well as got ready for a dinner party, tamed myself and my three siblings, and cleaned the entire house- she cemented herself in my mind as SuperWoman. But much much prettier. I remember watching her get ready for these guests in her big bathroom, fancy dress that I couldn't touch, but sharing her lipstick and makeup with me as long as I would behave myself. Then it was back to the kitchen to shift food around, share splinters of the chocolate, and then hurry me upstairs with my brothers and a sitter.

How hardcore was that?

Now- seeing how easy the torte is, I suppose she wasn't just making it look easy. Or at least the dessert part. In my opinion though- the woman is still a super hero.

Make this tart and enjoy my friends. With or without Darth Vader, it's a sure fire sensation. Eat chilled in slices or hot (like a chocolatey, nutty, caramel-y, sundae topping!) over ice cream. Yummmmmmm!

Ultimate Nut and Chocolate Chip Tart

-1 pkg. unbaked pie crust

-3 eggs

-1 cup light corn syrup

-1/2 cup packed brown sugar

-1/3 cup butter (melted/cooled)

-1 tsp vanilla

-1 cup coarsley chopped, salted, mixed nuts

-1/2 cup mini chocolate chips (dark or semi sweet)

Ease pie crust into an 11" tart pan with removable bottom, trimming the crust to fit. Or just do what I did and stretch it to cover an entire pizza pan... It KINDA worked.

Either way, do NOT prick the pastry.

For the filling, beat the eggs slightly with a fork. Stir in the corn syrup. Add in remaining ingredients- EXCLUDING the nuts/chocolate. Once well combined, stir nuts/chocolate into the caramel-ish coating. Pour filling into the crust.

Bake at 350 in oven for 40 minutes. Or until a knife inserted into the middle of the treat comes out clean. Cool on a rack. Serve hot/cold as you prefer.

My mom used to make a fancy sauce for her fancy parties- (melt 1tbs shortening & 1/2 cup choc chips)- and drizzled it over in a lovely pattern, serving the ice cream on the side. If you choose to be as fancy and lovely as my mother, that is also an extremely viable option

Upside Down Apple Pie

So, this recipe is from Noble Pig and they make it about a zillion times more beautifully then I did. But mine was still lovely :)

It got a tiny bit more cooked then I would have liked. I got distracted... but! The only thing that got really affected was the walnuts were a bit overdone and the caramel became a bit too sticky/chewy. However, I cannot stress enough how delicious this pie was.

The bloggers at Noble Pig claim to make this rather then their typical apple pie recipe. I have now sworn to do the same. It's caramel-y, walnut-y, apple-y, deliciousiocity all wrapped up in a flakey pie crust. I of course recommend serving with with ice cream, but I was raised in a world where apple pie requires vanilla ice cream or whipped topping to be complete. A simple fork-full of this pie with some ice cream will change your life. I swear to you, one bite will make your apple pie fantasies come true. And we all have apple pie fantasies that need to come true.

This is the perfect recipe to herald in the fall. Long live apples, long live apple pie :)

Upside Down Apple Pie

6 Tablespoons butter, melted & divided
1/2 cup packed light brown sugar
1/2 cup chopped pecans
2 refrigerated pie crusts
1 cup granulated sugar
1/3 cup all purpose flour
1 teaspoon cinnamon
5 large Granny Smith apples, peeled, cored & cut into 1/2" slices

Coat a deep-dish pie plate with nonstick cooking spray and line it with parchment paper. THIS IS IMPORTANT- PARCHMENT PAPER. I didn't have any and it caused disaster for the beauty of my pie. You should coat the paper with cooking spray too if you want your pie to remain in-heavenly-tact.

In a small bowl combine 4 Tablespoons of melted butter, brown sugar and pecans. Mix well and spread evenly over the bottom of the pie plate, on top of the parchment. Place one of the crusts in the pie plate, pressing it firmly against the nut mixture and up the sides of the plate. Set aside.

In a large bowl, combine granulated sugar, flour, cinnamon and the remaining 2 Tablespoons of melted butter. Mix well. Add the apples in and toss gently to coat. Spoon into the pie crust.

Place the second crust over the apple mixture. Trim and fold the edges together to seal and cut some slits in the top of the crust for venting. Just seal the deal as best as you can. Pie crust can be picky.

Bake @ 375 for 1 to 1-1/4 hours or until crust is golden brown.

Let the pie cool for 5 minutes and then place a plate on top of it and flip it over. CAREFUL! PROBABLY STILL HOT! Remove the pie plate and gently lift the paper. Allow to cool. Serve warm or at room temperature, WITH ICE CREAM if you have been listening to my wisdom and are feeling perfectly sinful.

Enjoy :) Happy Fall!!

Pie Potstickers

Remember that Nutella Ravioli I threw together? Well, this is like that but, instead, it's made with pie filling. Delicious delicious pie filling. As SOON as I made the nutella raviolis, I knew i wanted to make that recipe again with fruit filling.

Snacky deliciousness. My cooking creative vibes were a buzzing and I knew I had to make these ASAP. And it was beyond worth it. I can't explain how A) fun they are as a snack and to plate up and B) how delicious. How very very delicious.

I made these with pre-made pie fillings because I have never made fruit pies before. I used blueberry and apple. The blueberry was overly sweet so, I drained some of the syrups and added a lot of lemon curd. It turned out perfect. I dusted them with powdered sugar to make them even more presentable. Take caution pressing the edges with the purple jam...

The apple filling was more difficult to work with from the can, however. It tasted like... apple baby food. It was sugar, apple mush. So, I needed to get that less gross, more delicious apple pie filling. I decided to cook it in a skillet with tequila and cinnamon...

As a college student, I suppose I just have an affection for tequila :)

With the frying and the cinnamon, it became an irresistible pie filling. Served warm over a scoop of icecream, these little treats are an adorable dessert. Served plain, a delicious snack.

Please make and enjoy :)

Butter Tarts: A Canadian Treat

My boyfriend is a proud Canadian and I spent a nice two weeks with him and his family up in Canada this past summer. While the trip was composed of too many beautiful, amazing, and fun moments to share here, one afternoon was simply spent on the pier of their lake, lazing around the boat and eating butter tarts on the sun porch.

These little guys are little pieces of heaven. So SO good. 

I would almost describe them as a pecan pie but...not. And really, they are just so much better.

So when I found this AMAZING recipe posted by Kevin on his blog, Closet Cooking. I couldn't resist making it ASAP.

One bite in and I was all happy "mmms" and "ahhs". You need to make these. Need. It's my new favorite recipe. Go canada!

Closet Cooking's Butter Tarts

-1 pie crust pastry 

-1 egg
-1/2 cup brown sugar (packed)
-1/2 cup maple syrup
-1/4 cup unsalted butter (melted)
-1 teaspoon vanilla extract
-1/4 teaspoon salt
-1/2 cup walnuts (chopped)
-1/2 cup raisins

Cut/roll the dough into a dozen 4-5 inch circles. Press the circles of dough into a muffin baking pan. Chill the muffin pan in the fridge for 45-60 minutes. In his recipe, he never mentions it but, I am assuming you use the single egg to brush the cups once they are set.  Mix the brown sugar, maple syrup, butter,vanilla extract, salt, walnuts and raisins in a bowl. Spoon the mixture into the tarts. Bake in a preheated 350F oven and bake until set, about 15-25 minutes.